Mind you, we all miss her not just because of her work, but because of her friendship and constant help with a smile – whether it was going out of her way with a thoughtful gift or kind word.

I hit the button on Outlook that lets you see all the e-mails you receive according to the senders’ name. I had 110 e-mails still in my in-box from Nora!

Shaking my head at my own bad habit, I noticed there was one e-mail from Nora that was unopened. Clicking on it, the e-mail was from a few months ago reminding us all to turn in our mileage reports by a certain date.

It was in that moment that for once I was thankful for my bad habit. That’s because in this one, last unopened message from Nora she signed off with a smiley face.

I couldn’t help but smile myself, even if it was a sad, teary one.

Thanks for that smile, Nora, and for all the smiles you gave us over the past 34 years!